British airline tycoon pledges $25 million to spur research aimed at winning greenhouse-gas battle

British airline tycoon pledges $25 million to spur research aimed at winning greenhouse-gas battle

Sir Richard Branson, chair of the $7.2 billion US London-based Virgin Group of companies, said the contest – called the Virgin Earth Challenge, will utilize a panel of judges including Branson and Gore evaluating submissions.

The goal is to find a way of removing one billion tonnes of carbon gases a year from the atmosphere for 10 years. The winner will receive $5 million US up front and the remaining $20 million after the 10-year time frame. If no winner is identified after five years the judges may decide to extend the competition.

“The Earth cannot wait 60 years. We need everybody capable of discovering an answer to put their minds to it today,” Branson said.

The announcement comes a week after an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from the world's top scientists predicted global temperatures would increase by between 1.8 and four degrees this century. The report said it was very likely these rises in temperature were due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.

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The DeSmog UK epic history series recalls how the war between the climate sceptics and the IPCC heated up as they tried to cast doubt over the science.

The climate sceptics were ever ready to attack the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) following its second report, released in 1995. They well understood the political dangers that confronted them.